New survey of health impacts of Port of Houston to be released at Town Hall

Published 2:34 pm, Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Healthy Port Communities Coalition announces a Town Hall meeting to be held on Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at Holland Middle School, 1600 Gellhorn Dr., Houston, 77029.

For far too long, the voices of community members have been ignored in making decisions about the Port’s economic growth, routing of hazardous and heavy truck traffic, strategic positioning of pollution control devices, and disposal of hazardous wastes. The Healthy Port Communities Coalition seeks to give a voice to portside communities that have historically been left out of this decision making process.

“Communities surrounding the Port have the highest air toxics rate in the Houston area and have elevated rates of cancer and asthma,” commented Tom “Smitty” Smith, the Executive Director of Coalition member Public Citizen. “The Port and the legislature need to listen to the voices of the community on such problems.”

The Coalition is conducting surveys in portside communities to determine the full extent of these effects and raise awareness about their causes. The preliminary results of this ongoing survey of port side residents will be discussed at the town hall.

With this and other organizing activities, the Healthy Port Communities Coalition is building a strong base of well-informed and active local residents who will engage public and private stakeholders directly on priority issues. The town hall will feature community leaders speaking about issues both unique to their communities and shared in common by all portside citizens.

“The Coalition is helping portside community residents speak with a unified voice on issues that affect their health and well-being,” said Adrian Shelley, Executive Director of Coalition member Air Alliance Houston. “For too long, these communities have borne the burden of Houston’s intense industrial development.”

The town hall meeting will be on Thursday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m., at Holland Middle School, 1600 Gellhorn Dr., Houston, 77029.